6.24.2007

Everyone's Free to Wear Sunscreen...and They Should!!!

This is my friendly service announcement.

I usually don't put my opinions on here like this, but this is one that I ULTIMATELY AND TRULY BELIEVE IN!!!

With summer in full bloom, the kiddie pool set up in the back yard and the kids wanting to constantly go and play with which ever neighbor has their pool set up, I feel like I am constantly smelling of sunscreen (good thing that smell doesn't make me vomit). Each morning we have our ritual of them putting on their bathing suits and having them adjust said bathing suit while mommy sprays or slathers on about a half a cup on each child. I should have invested stock in Banana Boat or Coppertone years ago.

I remember watching a talk show a couple of years ago that said you should put at least a shot glass full of sunscreen on each bambino every time you lotion up. Since our temperatures outside are currently in the triple digits and we live in a high altitude area, it isn't practical to wear a long-sleeve shirt as recommended by authorities. So we go by way of the sunscreen.

In my younger and stupider years, I believed that in order to get a great base for a tan, I needed to burn once and then let it fade into golden skin that I could work on for the rest of the summer. Oh how naive I was!!! I even used to visit tanning salons in hopes of getting that radiant summer glow.

Several years ago I dared to venture into a tanning salon once again. I went in, paid my money for my time and said I wanted 15 minutes. Unbeknownst to me, they had changed tanning beds (what did I know, it had been YEARS since my last visit) and 15 minutes was the FULL amount of time. The last time I had visited a tanning salon, the minimum start time was 15 minutes. I walked out of the salon feeling like a younger and more vibrant woman. Until I sat in my hot car to go home. I cried and winced in pain the entire way home. Upon arriving home, I inspected my newly "tanned" body in the mirror only to discover that I had "grill marks" up and down my entire body. That was the last time I ever tanned and the first time I decided to embrace my grandma whiteness.

I am now passing that onto my daughters. I have freckles and moles all over my body where I continually sunburned as a child and a teenager. I am preventing their creamy, beautiful skin from the signs of aging and wear. My mom was recently diagnosed with a patch of skin cancer. I am scared to death of having the same thing, especially now that I know the dangers and that I can prevent it from happening. I avoid being in the sun like the plague. Even when the opportunity arises that I do go into the sun, you can hear me toting the importance of sunscreen and how having a sunburn is just not worth it.

Each year I go on a trip to a local hot springs, unless I am pregnant or nursing a baby, and each year I tell all of the girls that they need to slather up. They usually ignore my pushing. Guess who is the only one who sleeps well in the evenings after we have been in the sun. Go on, guess.

So please, for the love of all that is holy, put on sunscreen today.

7 comments:

The Rookie said...

Isn't it the truth! I am finally getting old enough I am fairly religious about lathering up with at least SPF 30...that is until Hawaii. I smeared that stuff on at the beginning of a day at the beach and then, between snorkeling, playing with my sister's kids, and absolute brainlessness...I forgot to reapply. Let's just say that the flight home was more miserable than usual!

Gina said...

Your girls have an olive glow and are not yucky white thanks to genetics, so that is a plus! Hopefully they will be content with that [envied] trait later in life.

There are so many new studies on sunscreen, and the sun itself, that have come out this past year and even last week. The latest one said plain and simply to keep your kids in the shade. Buying a canopy to go over the kiddie pool is best. Though sunscreen is still recommended because of the light reflections.

They have made it so confusing... "enough vitamin D?" or "too many chemicals in sunscreen?" ... how are we to know what's really best? I guess everything in moderation isn't bad. My kid knows he has to have a hat on and be slathered before I will open our outside door.

Lara said...

Oh man! I need to be stricter about hats on my kids. They are always taking them off and losing them so I give up. I guess I need to keep trying. My little two year old blondie already has moles under her hair. Isn't that awful? Thankfully she has never been sun burned but I know I could do better.

What a great idea to put a canopy over the kiddie pool. I am going to do that if we ever get a yard or even a drive way in!

Cheri said...

You are so right! When I was a teenager I was constantly in the sun.
I know this is insane but I really hate being hot so I figured if I was going to be out there I would stay out there until I was sure I got some "tan"!
How stupid! I hate to think of the damage I caused my skin- now I'm like you and constantly harking on my niece to get out of the sun- she's not listening though- years from now she'll be wishing she had listened to me!

Suzanne said...

I totally agree! Health wise, it's the most important reason to do it, but also, no mom wants to listen to her child cry in pain because they didn't want to put it on! I need to buy some of the spray on kind because I'm tired of slathering! LOL! :D

Sketchy said...

I just tell every one I'm going for that Nicole Kidman glow...well with out the dieting myself into a stick...

Sketchy said...

Oh I have a question. I have that spray on kind. Do I need to rub it in? I can't quite bring myself to trust it without rubbing...